High PH question

They are a little high but not much. If you are planning on drinking them young (by 2 years) I would not worry about them. If you are going to age for 3+ years, you might adjust them down a bit.

If you add tannin it will make it taste more tannin. It will have a bit more pucker type bite. Generally this would not be condusive to drinking young. It may (MAY) add more complexity after a long aging, but Cab. Sauv and Merlot usually do not need this. But then I ferment on the skin rather than from juice.

Ray

Thanks for the reply....

I do plan to age for a few years, after about 4-6 weeks most of the juice will head into a NEW 15 Gallon French oak barrel for about 10 months. If I wanted to adjust the PH a bit, what would be the best direction to head?

DT

If you are going to age in oak, I would not think you would need additional tannin.

As far as adjusting pH, I would use tartaric acid and add it according to the recomendations on Jack's site. The calculations are aproxamate so go carefully. Do it in stages. I generally add three quarters of what I calculate and then adjust further as needed. Maybe someone else will give you more specific instructions but I just determine what I need on a per case basis.

Ray

Those are rather normal numbers for Cabernet and Merlot.

Ending up with a red wine that's not too pleasant to drink because it is too tannic. Don't do it - at least not on a red. If you add oak chips or age in barrel you will also end up with more tannin - but the wine will taste better for it.

Tom S

Where did you get the oak barrel? I live in Eastern Ontario.

Farmer John